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Monday, April 8, 2013

I'm officially a soccer mom.

If the mini-van that we purchased in late September didn't do it, then this past Saturday's event did: I guess I am officially a soccer mom.

On Saturday, Luke began soccer. He started off with a bang and went right into their first game since their only scheduled practice so far got rained out. Drew and I were nervous about the game, knowing Luke's personality. Luke really likes to practice before he attempts new things in front of people. He also likes to ease into situations. But, once he's comfortable, he really lets loose. That proved to be true on Saturday.

Here is a photo I posted on Facebook and Instagram of Luke on Friday night. He was excited about soccer:

And this was Luke at the game on Saturday:

Luke was scared and cold (it was chilly at 7:45am).

Poor Luke hadn't met his team members before Saturday (except one). It was freezing. He didn't know what he was supposed to do (again, the no practice thing). The other team had obviously practiced together before. The coach knew all of their names and they were doing drills prior to the start of the game. They also had a professional 4-year old player who scored anytime he touched the ball. So, that may have been slightly overwhelming for our team as well. The other team had one adult (the coach) per the 4 players on the team on the field during the game. Our team had 4 adults per the 4 kids from our team on the field at all times if that tells you anything. Luke wanted either me or Drew out on the field with him the entire time he played. And most of that time he was clinging to us or holding our hand. This meant that we had to run around on the field and chase the ball if we wanted him to do so. I am sure it was amusing for spectators. Needless to say, we are all really looking forward to our first team practice tomorrow night.

Luke (#5) and some of his teammates getting a pep talk from the coach.

I captured a short video of Luke "playing" soccer on Saturday. It is a pretty good picture of how it went for us on Saturday. I had brought Luke's little collapsible chair for Abbey to sit in during the game. It was vacant most of the time though, so when Luke would catch a glimpse of it while he was playing, he would, at times, run off the field to sit in the chair. I think that is what he is doing towards the end of the video below.

You can see he started to become more brave and go after the ball, but then decided to go back to his comfort zone (his chair on the sideline next to me).

On the way home after the game in the car Luke told us, "I didn't like the black team. They kept stealing the ball." So, it was then that he got his first lesson from mommy and daddy in team sports and how competition works. Regardless of how Saturday's game went, I can tell that even though he wasn't participative during the game, he definitely learned some lessons.

Below is a video of Luke playing soccer at home. You can see the night and day difference! He was just so shy in Saturday's game situation after being thrown in there with no practice. I am sure once he gets to know some players on the team and gets to have a practice, he will have a lot more fun and not be afraid! Because, as you can see from the video, he really does enjoy soccer.